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Profane, violent, and excellent depiction of an addict's journey. Ewan McGregor leads a pitch-perfect cast as he attempts to leave a dangerous lifestyle behind in 1980s Scotland. Be forewarned this is gritty, cynical, and sarcastic, and graphically depicts heroin use.

I hadn't seen this movie in many years but now I remember why it was such a big deal. Really a deterrent for heroin use. Amazing & disturbing visuals that stick with you for life. Had to use subtitles to understand some of what they were saying due to the heavy accents.

My first watching of this movie too and now i know why i didn't dare to watch it before! It's horrific and traumatizing, i guess eye opener for many drug users of that era....of any era, matter of fact! This film was adapted from the book by Irvine Walsh and became almost a cultural phenomenon as soon as it was released in Britain in February 1996.
Movie is very dark and funny at times, tragic, surreal, brutal....Cult movie for sure!
Just watched T2 and it was even better!

Agree with comments by Calvacade and howeshound. Like to add:
1. Avoid watching the film while eating, especially during the early half with the water-closet scenes.
2. Turn the subtitle on unless you speak this: Aw, ah sais. Ah wanted the radge tae jist fxck off ootay ma visage, tae go oan his ain, n jist ...
3. Good idea to catch this while waiting in queue for T2.

Adopted from the "Trainspotting" novel by Irvine Welsh, this film was directed by Danny Boyle and stars Ewan McGregor, Jonny Lee Miller, and Robert Carlyle. Set in a low class part of Edinburgh, Scotland in the 1980s, this film revolves around themes of drug addiction, betrayal, illness, and poverty.
Trainspotting is certainly not the type of movie to watch if you need cheering up and an extra dose of optimism. The film details the consequences of the characters' mistakes extremely bluntly; therefore, I do not recommend this to anyone with a weak stomach. It does have its moments of well-fit in British humor, and at many points, we simply want to dish out hugs of sympathy to some of the characters.
The soundtrack is worth checking out too, featuring hits from Iggy Pop, Heaven 17, Underworld, Joy Division, and many more.

One of the great movies of the past 25 years. Not pretty, but realistic and wryly funny. Robert Carlyle's Begbie is one of cinema's greatest nasty characters, up there with Joe Pesci's Tommy DeVito in Goodfellas, a person you'll have met if you were brought up in the rough neighbourhood of a big city.
The element of fantasy director Danny Boyle injects into the film tempers its tough message without letting the viewer totally off the hook. Acting, from everyone, is brilliant, script is impeccable, music is exactly right. A tour de force all through.
Looks like a follow-up is being produced. It'll have to go some to match this.

I just recently read a review that said this film "glorifies drug use". I'm positive we did not see the same film. If anything, this is one of those movies that's a cautionary tale about the horrors and fragility of life with hard drugs. This is definitely not a film for the casual viewer, but don't feel horrified at yourself for laughing during some of the scenes. There are some hilarious bits to this film, but it's in no way a comedy. At least, not in the typical sense. Watch with an open mind, particularly if you have an unoffendable palette.

The sequel (T2 Trainspotting) is out in cinemas now and it prompted me to visit this movie. I had not ever seen it but just about everyone I know had and recommended it. I can see why. It's not a pretty movie but it is authentic. The performances are great and the soundtrack is fantastic (which makes the film much better). I don't think the film would have become quite the cult classic it is without that soundtrack. The story is fairly good and nobody here has much in the way of redeeming values but we somehow like them anyway. Probably because some part of one or more of these misanthropes is identifiable in each of us at some point - particularly when we were young. Worth a look.

Notices

Sexual Content:Women are mostly depicted as convenient for sex, although in reality the men depend very much on them. Three of the men have girlfriends who are not into heroin. Nudity and prostitution.

Quotes

Monolith posted the opening rap. Here are two near the end:
"Did you think
I would leave you crying
"When there's room on my horse for two?
"Climb up here, Tommy, don't be dying
"I can go just as fast with two
"When we grow up, we'll both be soldiers
"And our horses will not be toys
"And I wonder if we'll remember
"When we were two little boys"
===
-Any major investments on the horizon? Going to buy yourself an island?
-For fxcking 4,000? One palm tree, a couple of rocks and a fxcking sewage outflow.
-I don't know, man. I'm going to get something for my ma. Get some good speed, no bicarb. Then get a girl, take her out, treat her right.
-And shag her senseless?
-No, man, true love.
-True love!
-But I could really handle some hot sex with a Jewish princess tonight.
-You daft cxnt.
-Or a Catholic.
-If you're going to waste it on a bird, you might as well leave it all to me.

"Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing, spirit-crushing game shows, stuffing f*cking junk food into your mouth. Choose rotting away at the end of it all, pissing your last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, f*cked up brats you spawned to replace yourselves. Choose your future. Choose life... But why would I want to do a thing like that? I chose not to choose life. I chose somethin' else. And the reasons? There are no reasons. Who needs reasons when you've got heroin?"

Mark "Rent-boy" Renton: I fantasize about a massive pristine convenience. Brilliant gold taps, virginal white marble, a seat carved from ebony, a cistern full of Chanel no.5, and a flunky handing me pieces of raw silk toilet roll. But under the circumstances I'll settle for anywhere.